Projects at work: "Pinocchio" and "Black Silk" presented at the "Fandom Fest"

The nymphs of the Celestial Empire with colorful curls and meter-and—a-half axes, winged fallen angels with sabers, monstrous nutcrackers, medieval ladies in embroidered dresses, a giant pig from "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles", Koschei the Immortal and the Snow Maiden - all these are just a small part of the guests of the "Fandom Fest" 2025. This year, geeks and fans of computer, film, and comic book universes not only presented their cosplay looks and danced to K-pop, but also chatted with Russian movie stars. The creators of the new "Pinocchio" and the sequel to the adventure detective "Black Silk" told about new super hits. The details are in the Izvestia report.

From elven ears to battle axes

Since early morning, a strict column of young people has been moving along the gray Moscow streets: acid hair, bright makeup, pointed elf ears. Silk ribbons, crinolines, and armor peek out from under black down jackets. He holds colorful swords, shining axes, quivers of arrows, shurikens, and magic lanterns. This is not a glitch in the matrix — these are countless fandoms that merge into a single huge "city" for two days under the roof of the VKontakte festival.

This weekend, the Main Stage space has turned into a whole complex: the main stage, the VK Play game area, merch alleys, and bright photo banners. Each "street" has its own character — from anime and games to comics, Korean music and science fiction.

It is almost impossible to make a move without encountering a neon guardian or a ghoul. While the warrior angels spread their wings before the cosplay competition, banshees and chimeras attach winches to their belts to perform aerial stunts over the crowd.

Guests move from venue to venue: concerts, presentations, catwalks, dance battles. In another part of the pavilion there is a games area and a lecture hall, where you can change the frenzied rhythm to a conversation with the scriptwriters of your favorite fantasy or game developers. The geek market is sorting out fresh comics and collectible figures — prices range from 500 to 65 thousand rubles. But they don't seem to bother the fans.

Cockroaches, Pierrot's clay mask, and plot tricksters

Fandoms are not only Asian and computer games, but also Russian culture. Every year, heroes, princesses and characters of Russian folklore appear more and more often among cosplayers. Therefore, the audience appreciated the appearance of the creators of the new film "Pinocchio" on the main stage. The film was presented by screenwriter Andrey Zolotarev, the performer of the role of Pierrot Stepan Belozerov and Vitaly Kornienko, who presented her facial expressions and plasticity to Pinocchio himself.

The guests were shown not only the trailer, but also two full-fledged fragments. In one of the episodes, the iconic song "Boo-ra-ti-no!", written by Alexey Rybnikov, sounds. Fans were able to appreciate the scale of the production and see the new characters — the three cockroaches Alexander, Giovanni and Anton, who play an important role in the plot.

— These are full-fledged heroes with their own line. They are the basis for a significant part of the comedy episodes. They are both mentors and tricksters," Andrei Zolotarev told Izvestia.

According to the authors, the audience will find a magical story in which there will be a place for serious themes — growing up and separation. The team studied all the inherited material — from Collodi to the Soviet film adaptation — and created a new work of fiction, retaining the key characters, but reworking their roles. Alice the Fox (Victoria Isakova) and Basilio the cat (Alexander Petrov) screen time was even increased — the actors turned out to be too good.

Stepan Belozerov admitted that filming was not easy: there was almost no real Pinocchio on the set.

— They brought us several spheres, and then they turned into a hero. I had to play into the void. It's like talking to a wall. And the makeup took several hours. They applied white clay to me, the effect of a fresco. Then everything started to itch, but you can't scratch it," the actor confessed.

"Pinocchio" will be released on January 1, 2026, and in the spring of 2027, viewers will see the sequel to the film "Black Silk". The creators promise larger-scale stunts and unexpected plot twists.

An airship, a Japanese ship, and Shanghai in the 1930s

The Black Silk team revealed the first details of the production. The producers emphasize that the atmosphere of historical Shanghai will become one of the key components of the film. In the 1930s, the city was a place of sharp contrasts — coffee was drunk on one street, a battle was going on on the next. It is this duality that defines the tone of the film.

The main cast has already been formed: Milos Bikovic, Maxim Matveev, Zheng Hanyi and Gleb Kalyuzhny, who is already in the army, preparing for the role. However, the project also involves several secret actors — major stars, whose names the studio plans to reveal gradually, as was the case with "Red Silk". Instead of the train that became the main location in the last part, the action will now unfold on a Japanese ship and a giant airship.

— We build all the decorations from scratch. We have a huge number of them. We are shooting something on location, we will build the deck of the ship on the ship. This is a mechanical platform capable of simulating pitching and a storm. They plan to fill the scenery with water, creating the effect of a real storm dive for the actors," Andrei Volgin, the film's director of photography, told Izvestia.

One of the central locations will be a huge Zeppelin, which the authors compare to the Death Star from Star Wars. In the film, it will appear as both a luxury flying hotel and a military threat looming over the city. The interior spaces will be created in the pavilion using LED screens so that the actors work in a real environment, and not in front of a chromakey. The creators claim that the scenes on the airship will become one of the main attractions of the picture.

The special attention of the public in the demonstrated materials was attracted by the appearance of a unique aircraft — a historical glider of the 1920s, which rose due to the updrafts.

"There's no one else in it. It's a huge piece of metal that's being dropped, and it's flying somewhere. And Hanyi is just going to fly on such a thing. This has never happened in any movie," Volgin says.

A significant part of the filming will take place in China. The author's group emphasized that the film will show the real Shanghai of the 1930s. Not a stereotypical exotic village, but the largest metropolis with numerous clubs, nightlife, and an international mix of cultures. The team is still in pre-production, but will begin full-scale filming in March 2026.

Vadim Byrkin, the film's producer, noted that he is currently actively negotiating with China to make Black Silk a joint Russian-Chinese production. But it's too early to talk about it yet.

During the creation of Red Silk, the Chinese partners treated the Russian side with caution, the producer recalled, but the premiere of the film in Beijing on September 4 changed the attitude towards the project: the screening gathered representative guests, and the subsequent rental consolidated trust. The film was released in China as a national release and showed "good results against the background of high competition," which is especially noteworthy for a foreign project.

In China, the film received 95% positive reviews, so the preparation of the second part is noticeably easier. The representatives of the film crew emphasize that the improved political and production environment allows us to count on a full-fledged international partnership — without risks that could jeopardize the implementation of ambitious ideas.

"Today, the Chinese side sees prospects in the project and is interested in making Black Silk a bigger international film than the previous one," Byrkin said.

Cosplay catwalk shows and k-pop stars

As always, cosplay became the heart of the festival. This year's competition looked particularly impressive: individual nominations, a jury of famous cosplayers, and a prize pool of half a million rubles. An action resembling both a theater and a mini-comic-con unfolded on the stage: the iron warrior legionnaire from Warhammer, the night elf from Warcraft, the characters of Game of Thrones, the heroes of the Chinese hit "The Blessing of the Celestials", the characters of The Witcher and the popular game The Last of Us appeared there.

The music program was also intense. South Korean bands EVERGLOW, 8TURN and The Last Live, ballad rock singer Dima Permyakov, Chinese musician WEIYI and Kazakh boy band NOMADS performed on stage. Synchronized choreography, branded idol plasticity and powerful rhythms gathered a dense wave of fans in front of the stage.